


The Question

by Hantaliel



Category: Beelzebub (Manga)
Genre: Blood Knights, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-05
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:47:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hantaliel/pseuds/Hantaliel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He didn't know when, or how, or why they had ended up like this, and to be honest, he didn't really care either. Though he could do without all these questions nagging holes through his head. Ah damnit. What about "Shut the fuck up and leave me the hell alone!" is it you don't understand!? You never spoke up before, why now, Brain, WHY NOW!?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Dilemma

"Mmh..."

"Hah...nh!"

The sound of panting, muffled moans, and low growls filled his ears. How had he ended up in this situation again? What was this anyway? Warm lips on his own; tongues battling for dominance; teeth clicking together sending jolts of excitement down his spine; the large muscular body pinning him to the bridge leg; the hands holding his neck and hip in a vice grip; spiky strawberry-blonde hair framing a strong angled face filling his vision every time his eyes cracked open.

His mind didn't seem to be able to understand it. Actually it was a wonder he could think at all. To be honest, he simply wasn't thinking, which would explain a lot. It was hot. So fuckings hot. He vaguely wondered whether Be'el-boy's brother En was throwing a tantrum nearby. That thought blew straight out of his head a moment later as the hand that had been on his hip had found its way under his shirt and gone to tweak his nipple.

"Goddamn...bastard...Toujou!" he managed to snarl through his gritted teeth, though the breathless quality his voice had taken on made it sound like an invitation rather than a curse. He could feel the lips nibbling on the sensitive skin on his neck twitch up into a smirk. Asshole!

"Lill'Lord! Why are you sleeping here! Alone! OGA!"

His body reacted before his mind. The next moment he watched with detached fascination as Toujou skidded backward a few meters, doubling over while clutching his middle. Lowering his fists, he unconsciously straightened his shirt a bit before turning to look in the direction of Hilda's voice.

A blonde head peaked around the corner of the bridge leg, electric green eyes fixing him with a stare that if directed at any normal person would probably cause instant combustion and decimation of the poor victim on the receiving end. Hilda glanced past Oga at Tojou for a moment, raising a questioning eyebrow before fixing him with a glare.

"Leaving the Lill'Lord to sleep on the ground is simply unacceptable. Next time you're putting him down to fight leave him your shirt to sit on at the very least."

Rolling his eyes the dark haired youth muttered irritably "Why do I have to fight half naked just so that Be'el-boy gets something to sit on and dirty for me? As if he doesn't crawl around all naked anyway. He rolls in the dirt more often than I get into fights."

"You're forgetting he is the Great Demon King's son-" The rest of Hilda's speech got drowned out as a familiar large hand landed on his shoulder. Ogas entire focus went to the owner of the hand though he kept his stare steady on Hilda's rapidly moving lips. The orange-head murmured something in a low voice, only for the shorter boy's ears before patting his shoulder and leaving. Oga watched him throw a casual wave over his shoulder from the corner of his eyes.

"As if I could forget that. I never wanted to be "responsible" for this twerp. Leave it already. He won't catch a cold that easily." Forcing down the blush that threatened to rise to his cheeks Oga replied in his customary annoyed tone, furthering the argument by instinct alone; it had become a habit of sorts to argue with the black clad maid.

He really had to struggle to contain the urge to turn his head and stare after the older man.

_"We'll continue some other time."_

Bastard. Why had it turned out like this. It didn't make sense. Well, no use in trying to figure it out. Understanding feelings and suggestive actions had never been his strong side, and it wasn't necessary either. Living life in a straightforward way was how it was and always would be. It sounded weak and unlikely in his mind for some reason.

The argument continued as the trio returned to the dark haired youth's house. The pastell-green haired baby making random happy noises as he listened to the older two bicker. The blonde girl fuming slightly and gritting her teeth at Oga's stubborn nature. And Oga? He was busy mentally dreading and at the same time looking forward to the next time he would meet a certain orange-head while suppressing the desire to hit his head against the wall till he managed to behead himself.

TBC


	2. Confusion Part 1: Furuichi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the Brain of Ishiyama High gets a glimpse of...whatever is going on beneath the surface? Maybe.

Furuichi, being the childhood friend of Oga, was 100% confident that he knew the brunette in and out, down to the tiniest trivia worth knowing about the boy. Even so, there were times when Oga did something completely unexpected and even The Brain of Ishiyama High got thrown off guard.

This time though he only knew that there was something wrong with Oga. Something had been very wrong for a while now. In fact it was seriously wrong, whatever it was. Furuichi knew he had a tendency to be overdramatic and misunderstood things easily because of his hyperactive imagination, but this time he knew he was right. However, he could not for the life of him come to any conclusions as to what exactly was wrong. Furuichi huffed. It was all starting to grate on his nerves.

Oga was a lucky guy, wasn't he? Had the girls all over him; Queen Kunieda being doe-eyed over him, Hilda living under the same roof...he could mention more but it only made him depressed thinking about it. Especially because he himself was stuck with a tall, too manly man of a guy who did not seem to be able to understand the concept of personal space, even if he had an angel of a daughter.

Ah, Angelica~ What a wonderful woman~ Her beauty outshines any others' just by being in the same room~ If it was _her_ needing a place to stay Furuichi would have gladly let her have his room, even his whole house! He and his family could sleep in the basement, no problem!

No such luck however, never. Lady luck must hate him so. What had he ever done to deserve such contempt? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

But back on the previous subject of Oga(He could gush about Angelica and any other girl in the vicinity later, as you, my dear reader probably can't care less about Furuichi's ramblings on girls.) The guy had been acting strangely for several days now. Furuichi had caught him glancing over his shoulder at something in class several times, only to frown and turn back, or somehow end up in a staring competition with Toujou. Those would end up with the class clearing up the space between them in split-seconds due to the sparks that would ignite in the air and one could just feel the bloodlust coming off in waves from the both of them. Everyone would be certain that a fight would break out at any moment. It never did.

Be'el always somehow managed to ease the tension by squealing happily, probably because of the devil-like expression on Oga's face, Toujou would then glance blankly at Be'el then back and make a hand gesture, to which Oga would turn away and the two would act as if the staring competition never happened. Strangely enough, Saotome-sensei never reacted and continued the lessons, though with an amused grin tugging at his lips for the rest of the day. And Furuichi himself? He'd be struggling for the next few hours to get his heart down from his throat to keep from suffocating from the scare.

Now, what part of that was so strange? What made Furuichi think there was something wrong with Oga? Well, every time this happened, while his face would be free of any expression, it would take on a slightly pink hue and ten minutes later he'd be gone from the classroom. The rest of the day he'd be nowhere to be found, and Hilda would be furious, dragging Furuichi with her on her predatory prowl through the city in search for the boy with Be'el. Eventually they'd find the brunette at some random open place together with Be'el, and Toujou. Which wouldn't be unusual per see, but still...

"THIS IS THE SIXTH TIME THIS WEEK! THERE ISN'T ENOUGH SCHOOL DAYS FOR THIS SCENARIO TO REPEAT ITSELF THIS MANY TIMES! NOT TO MENTION WHY IS ALWAYS THIS HAPPENING TO ME!?" The teen sobbed while trying his best not to look down, and wishing to all the godly entities he could think of that the Akubaba-bird-demon-thing wouldn't loosen its talons. It was a long way down to the ground...

"Shut up, trash. I'm thinking." Hilda growled irritably, arms crossed and paying no heed to the wind blowing up her skirt in any which way, but still somehow managing to avoid flashing her panties to the silverhead, much to Furuichi's great dissappointment. "Yesterday they were at the cleared out construction site...the day before they were at the open lot by the graveyard, and the day before that they were by the river. If we follow that pattern..." Her mumbles trailed off as her one visible green eye homed in on the sudden puff of dust that appeared at the top of a shopping mall in the distance.

"Akubaba! There!" The animal gave a loud squawk and made a slight jerking motion at being poked hard between its wings with the tip of the pink umbrella before it dove down towards said building. The teen in its talons couldn't even hear his own girly scream in the rush of air on the way down, tears blurring his sight(which in a way was a relief; Furuichi would rather not see if he were to die by getting close and intimate with the ground).

Just as Furuichi managed to almost get used to the extra g's and had summoned enough courage to crack an eye open, all the air in his body got forcefully shoved out of his lungs and he was gracelessly dropped onto a concrete surface. It took a few moments for him to take tabs on his surroundings, though when he did...

Oga was straddling Toujou's hips, hands fisting the front of his shirt, both looking flushed. Their breaths were coming in heavy pants, and both of their clothes were a mess; especially Oga's shirt which was missing a few buttons and sliding down one shoulder. What exactly had they been doing? Their hair were messier than usual, and while Toujou was just looking slightly annoyed, the brunette on his lap was shooting dark killer glares at the two party-crashers.

"What."

Hilda's voice was laced with an equal amount of poison as Oga's voice had when she replied, "I'm sorry, did we disturb you?"

Oga gave a "tsk" as he got up, taking his time with brushing off dust and straightening his shirt in his usual nonchalant way, though his shirt was showing a bit too much chest in Furuichi's opinion due to the missing buttons. "Yes, you did." He went to pick up Be'el who had been crawling forward the moment Hilda landed. The baby was making acquiescing noises to Oga's words, nodding and scowling slightly at Hilda and Furuichi. "So, the reason for the disturbance?"

"I don't like how you're disappearing all the time. I'm the Lill'Lord's maid. I have to be at his side at all times, taking care of all of his needs. Since you and the Lill'Lord are tied to each other you have to be easily available for me to be able to do my job properly. The recent disappearing acts you've been pulling lately is simply not acceptable!"

"Aaah, seriously? You're leaving me alone when I'm at school, so why not just leave me alone till I get home?" Furuichi watched the brunet glance at Toujou who'd also silently gotten to his feet and straightened up a bit while the umbrella-wielding demon ranted. Toujou scratched the back of his head in reply to the look, nodding in the direction of the river, again doing that strange hand gesture that Furuichi had noticed him using in class along with tapping his thumb and forefinger together twice.

Hilda huffed irritably, crossing her arms, seemingly not noticing this silent communication going on between the fight'o'maniacs. "School is one thing; then I know exactly where you are. But if you're not home about half an hour after school's ended, of course I'll start wondering where you are! I usually only tuck enough milk for the Lill'Lord in your bag to last the school day. If you don't head straight home after school you'll leave Him starving, and that simply won't do!"

Furuichi almost expected Oga to say something along the lines of "Right, if you feel that way, why don't you just come to school and take care of Be'el-boy yourself like you did for a while back?" The slightly thoughtful look, and brown eyes flickering in the direction of the orange-head along with an annoyed huff was not exactly what he'd expected the brunet to do.

"Then just add another bottle or something. I handle things well enough without you breathing down my neck all the time."

Hilda made an annoyed sound, glare intensifying another notch. "By the time you'd give him the second bottle the milk would already be too cold to give to the Lill'Lord. Unless I delivered the bottle at school when it ended, but then it'd be simpler if you just came home straight after school."

Furuichi felt like crying. These two sounded like an old married couple! What he wouldn't give to be Oga and have someone like Hilda saying those things to him. How great wouldn't that be? Have Hilda at home preparing food for when he came home, cooking with only an apron on, coming out to greet him when he entered the door and give him a hug and press those large coconuts into his chest...

Before he knew what happened he found himself facedown on the concrete, head throbbing, and something wet dribbling down his nose and chin. He got to lift his head just in time to catch the words "Let's go home." and see Hilda walk towards him, Oga and Toujou in the background standing unusually close to each other. His mind stopped working at the next thing that happened, and a split second later he heard "Damn pervert." from above and saw a black boot swoop in to fill his vision.

_Toujou kissed Oga!?_ Was the last thought that crossed his mind before darkness took him.

TBC


	3. Confusion Part 2: Jinno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Jinno learns to hate shopping, and finally gets an understanding of the madness that's been going down.
> 
> Oh, and Be'el is hungry.

Jinno flicked a toaster down from the shelf into the shoppingcart while pushing it down the aisle of the local supermarket, then he pulled out a pen and checked off “toaster” from the list of items he needed for the apartment.

This was the fourth time in five days that he had had to come to this place for household appliances. The workers in the hardware section of the store had long since committed him to memory as a frequent customer. Nowadays they’d greet him when they saw him enter, and give him tips on what was on sale that day, where to find it, stuff like that. Even stop for a short friendly chat, which was pleasant, at times, if it didn’t happen too often, but of course some people didn’t understand that.

“So, uh...why’d you need another toaster? Didn’t you just buy one like last week?”

Jinno glanced the short kid(part-timer obviously) in the hideous limegreen shirt with Kouno written on a small plastic tag attached to his breast pocket. Seeing no reason to lie he replied: “My flat mate smashed the last one.” _‘and the four before that as well’_ his mind supplied.

Kouno’s eyes widened, a mix between horror and awe flittering across his face. “Seriously? That’s...wow, uh, he’s gotta be really strong. Why’d he do that though?” Geesh, this kid was annoying, not to mention oblivious to the concept of personal space.

“Yeah. Why did he do that, indeed.” Jinno picked up a packet of drinking glasses, tossing that into the almost overstuffed cart and checking it off the list in one smooth motion, heading further down the aisle. “I really don’t know.”

The kid followed him right on his tail. “Was he angry or something? Like, has anything gone wrong for him lately?”

“No, nothing’s “gone wrong” lately, that I know of atleast.” Things had actually been really good, Jinno knew. The strawberry-blonde’s mood’s been off the charts, and not in a negative way. However...

Something had been off about the other teen for weeks, and by off he meant that Toujou seemed to be going mad. It had been subtle in the beginning; a broken glass here, a spoon twisted out of shape there, finding one of the doors off its hinges with explanation being that the strawberry-blonde had tripped over a potted plant that had never resided in their crammed apartment in the first place. Then one morning Jinno woke up to the sight of other’s bed in three large pieces with splinters covering the floor and furniture.

The sheer number of household appliances and other objects that had to be replaced or fixed increased exponentially as the weeks progressed, and while the destruction of all these items wasn’t something that bothered Jinno all that much, despite how inconvenient it was to go shopping after them over and over again and spending money in vain, it was worrying.

Toujou wasn’t exactly known for loosing control, even during fights. Sure, he had a knack of making compulsive decisions that seemed to border insane - if he wanted to do something there and then, he’d do it with no thought of the consequences - and with a strength and natural fighting instincts like his it wasn’t uncommon to find a trail of destruction in his wake. However, he rarely did anything destructive without some kind of provocation, which could be anything from a casual comment by some passerby, to someone throwing a punch at him. Which meant that all these things getting broken were all accidents, but accidents didn’t happen this frequently, Toujou was far from a clutz. He was never clutzy, never had been as long as Jinno had known him.

Jinno never really understood how Toujou’s mind worked, but he knew for a fact that Toujou Hidetora never did anything halfassed. The guy took all of this part time jobs very seriously; was never late, always did his best, and a quick learner to all things that required physical skills. Once he learned the ins and outs of things he did them flawlessly; Toujou’s cooking was something Jinno would give almost anything to have every day, it was tastebud heaven, always.

Either way, that was not the point. The point was: this recent string of destruction inside their little apartment was starting to take its toll on Jinno’s sanity, mostly because he was the one who ended up doing the shopping, and shopping meant bumping into Kouno, and Kouno was not someone you’d want to hang out with day after day. He could drive anyone crazy.

“So...your flatmate is smashing things while “nothing bad” has happened lately? He sure sounds like a douche. Why’d you still live with ‘im? I’d have moved out ages ago if I were you, cuz--”

Jinno zoned the boy’s voice out, stepping up his pace and trying to get this shopping round done as fast as possible. He was not ging to stick around for when Kouno went back into his “no time for douchebags” rant. He’d heard it enough times the last week to know that it wouldn’t have changed one bit since yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that, and he really wasn’t up for taking painkillers for another headache. Maybe going to another supermarket a bit further away was a better idea.

“--and you know what really pisses me off? They act like they’re so though, and so strong, but there’s only so much brawn can do y’know? Oh, and why does those types always get the girls, huh? I mean, I’m cute, ain’t I? The girls all call me adorable, but I always get friendzoned--”

Jinno’s eye almost twitched in annoyance. Ok, that was it. _‘I’m outta here. Now.’_

-

A cloud of dust exploded out of the warehouse’s cracked and gaping windows, and Jinno pulled off his square rimmed glasses and wiped the glass with the edge of his shirt, squinted at them before putting them back on, gaze wandering back to a lull in the testosterone filled contest going on between two teens.

Oga was just getting up from the heap of broken planks and metal beams in one corner of the warehouse, eyeing Toujou with such intensity Jinno wouldn’t have been surprised if the older teen instantly combusted. Toujou returned the stare with his own dead-fish-eyes glower and a sneer, tilting his head and cracking his neck and spine noisily, waiting patiently for Oga to gather himself up and make a move.

This was another thing that had been happening rather frequently lately. Those two seemed to have come to some sort of understanding where a look was more than enough to convey what they wanted to say without so much as opening their mouths. In fact they seemed to be able to communicate better with their fists and actions better than words ever did.

It was quite an interesting thing to watch really, though somewhat confusing(or terrifying, as Furuichi and most normal people would argue) as this silent communication went straight over Jinno and everyone else’s heads.

Blood was dripping down their chins, and from other various cuts and scrapes, though neither of them seemed to acknowledge any of the injuries. It was obvious that their blood was boiling, filled with adrenaline and endorphins putting them on a high they wouldn’t be coming down from for a good while. And they didn’t want to come down. At all. Judging from their expressions.

Jinno knew that if he could see the pair’s eyes up close he’d see their pupils blown wide, only focused upon the opponent with no room for anything else. Any disruptions would only spell annoyed snarls and a quick fist to the gut, sending the idiot who dared interrupt flying away from the scene with only a few broken bones if they were lucky.

Being friends with Toujou was interesting - his inhuman strength, and his rather quirky fight'o'maniac personality with a cute-animal complex - but he was otherwise a very rutined person. With the inclusion of a certain baby-toting brunet in Toujou's life however had messed up the entire rhythm Jinno had gotten used to. This new sparring routine they’d fallen into - seeking eachother out without thought, catching eachother’s eyes during classes, wordlessly agreeing on place and time for the next brawl...

Oga had caught Jinno’s interest pretty fast when he first appeared at Ishiyama High. Strange things seemed to always happen around that kid - as if the naked green haired baby on the teen’s back wasn’t enough of an eyecatcher - but what really caught Jinno's attention with the boy was his personality. It had unnerved him how similar he seemed to a certain strawberry blond. The strength aspect was also an interest factor, and he remembered thinking Toujou would definitely like to fight this guy even before Oga had beaten the three others of the TKHK.

He had not anticipated that Toujou would end up spending as much time with the kid as he had the last month however. If he wasn't working at one of his numerous part-time jobs he could be found having a fist fight with Oga somewhere or another. That was all fine and dandy, Toujou was happy and would always return to their shared apartment with a new collection of bruises and scrapes, and a huge menacing grin that could intimidate a horde of angry rhinos into submission - which was Toujou's equivalent of a cat who got both the brid _and_ the cream on the same afternoon after napping in the sun most of the morning. The poor landlady downstairs was definitely going to end up in an early grave out of shock soon if this continued.

 _However_ , when Toujou started spacing out, that was when things went from ok, to definitely not acceptable. It had only worsened since the bed breaking incident a week ago. He had lost jobs more frequently lately because of this, mostly due to him seeming to forget to regulate the amount of strength he put into doing things. Last time he had managed to create a crater of conciderable size with only a metal pole and a piece of timber in the middle of a construction yard. What actually went down, nobody seems to know, no one remembers. Adding on the freak “accidents” happening at home around Toujou as well, things only got more worrying. This had to stop. Jinno rather liked his life, and was not too keen on getting killed by accident, but it was also for the sake of Toujou himself as well.

Jinno eyed the two brawling figures, mirroring grins, eyes fixed on eachother, and pure exhiliration painted on both faces. Their energy was forceful, frightening, infectuous; two titans fighting to their heart’s content, loving every second of it. Every hook, every punch, every kick.

Oga ducked a punch, and swiped a kick at Toujou’s legs who stumbled for ballance and rolled into a crouch before bounding forward again, growling. He literally jumped the shorter, sending them crashing to the ground, both of them fighting tooth an nail for dominance.

When they finally came to a stop, Toujou had Oga pressed face down to the ground, knee in his lower back, and arm pushed up between his shoulderblades. They were both breathing hard, the dust slowly settling around the pair.

There was a lengthy silence where no one moved. Jinno observed, eyebrows raising slowly but steadily up towards his hairline with every passing second where Toujou’s eyes roamed all over Oga’s back. A short conversation in low murmurs passed between them before Toujou got to his feet, reaching a hand out for the shorter to grab and haul himself up.

They caught eachother’s gaze for a moment before Oga glanced at Jinno, quickly followed by a similar glance from Toujou. The pair shared another look filled with silent communication that Jinno couldn’t catch a single word of no matter how hard he tried. Really, It was strange how well those two just clicked, seamless, wordless, almost thoughtless.

_Clicked. Clicked...clicked...oh..._

Apparently starting up round four the sparring match, the two got into positions, twin grins back on their faces, looking like they were having the time of their lives.

_Well. I’ve never..._

Lips quirking up into a lopsided grin, the hawaii-shirt clad teen leaned back against the wall, chuckling slightly. So that was why. It seemed like he’d need a _talk_ with Toujou. Even if he finally knew the reason for the strange behaviour didn’t mean he would allow it to continue, especially the destruction of household objects. If there was one thing Jinno had learnt this last week, it was that he really hated shopping.

**TBC**

**-:-Omake-:-**

Be’el watched his Daada with gleeful eyes from beside the large scruffy-looking giant with the flowery shirt. It was so much more fun watching Big’n’Orange fight with Daada than watching that large square box with a lot of flashing colors and funny looking people moving around. This way he could not just see the action and hear the sounds, but also feel the air move, smell the places, the sweat, the blood. Oh, how he loved the smell of blood. Nothing was more exiting than the slight metallic scent in the air...

Be’el didn’t much like the thought of Daada being hurt in any kind of way, but Big’n’Orange was safe, he was like Daada. He was strong, but he was not bad towards him or Daada or the nice girl who always hung around Kouta or anyone else of Daada or Be’el’s friends, so Be’el knew it was ok for him to draw blood from Daada when they fought. Daada seemed to love the fights as well, so the little baby didn’t see any reason for throwing any tantrums for being left alone on the sideline. He was getting a free show, and really didn’t feel any need to complain.

Well, he sometimes wanted to complain when they suddenly decided to try to eat eachother up, because that was just mean. They weren’t allowed to eat in front of Be’el without him also getting a piece of the cake! Or atleast something to nibble on as well! That was just unfair.

But as long as that didn’t happen Be’el was content with sitting on crates, ground, floor, grass, wherever, and playing with bugs and whatnots that would be creeping around, occasionally clapping his tiny little hands in approval of the new developments in the brawl, and making happy squealing noises. As long as he got his bottle before his stomach rumbled again.

Ok, rumble. There. He wanted his bottle. **NOW!**


	4. Confusion Part 3: Kanzaki

**Confusion Part 3: Kanzaki**

Kanzaki Hajime loved yogurt. He really really loved it. Needed it. General grouchiness and irritability would only increase by the minute if he didn’t quench his yogurt fix. His subordinates all knew that, barring a few of the newest recruits, but they usually learned fast if they wanted to survive the first week.

As it was, a small group lead by Shiroyama had been sent out to fetch some more Yogurti for him. But the clock was ticking and Kanzaki was growing rather impatient. Did they really need almost half an hour to pick some up? He knew there were several vending machines nearby, and at least one of them should have enough to cover the amount of cartons he wanted. Probably. Maybe. They had to. More like, they better.

By the time Natsume finally reappeared with only a handfull Yogurti cartons, Kanzaki was about ready to get up from the bench he’d spread himself over in an attempt to occupy it to the fullest and go looking for them. They should know better to never to keep him waiting. He really, really needed that yogurt, ok?

He raised an eyebrow at Natsume. “Where are the others?”

Natsume grinned. He seemed to have caught the underlying ‘Where the hell is my yogurt!’ “They all got caught up on a little something.” He dumped the yogurt cartons in Kanzaki’s lap. “I’ll be going back there, boss. It really did seem quite interesting.”

Kanzaki stared at Natsume’s retreating back. Did his eyes just sparkle!? He hadn’t imagined that, had he?

Deciding that something that had Natsume sparkly-eyed was worth checking out, if only to get to know what made the boy, who was usually bored out of his wits, get this exited. Natsume might be one of his subordinates, but he never could quite understand him. Not that he really needed to understand the guy, but he got curious every so often.

No, you know what? He wasn’t going to follow Natsume out of curiosity, but because there would be more yogurt where he was going. and if there wasn’t, he would get the satisfaction of beating his stupid subordinates into submission so that they never forgot to bring him yogurt ever again.

He pulled out a straw from the side, jammed it into the defenceless carton, and took a looong drag while getting to his feet, careful not to drop any of the remaining cartons before heading in the direction Natsume had left.

It didn’t take long before he found them huddled behind a bush, being noisy enough to shatter any semblance of sneakiness that they were trying to do. He got up behind them and quietly sneered “Where is my yogurt...huuuuuh?” All five of them screamed and cowered together.

“K-k-kanzaki! W-w-we were just–”

“Huuuuuuuuuuuh?” His face went up a couple of notches on the menacing scale.

It was Natsume who dispelled the purple aura with a hand strategically placed on Kanzaki’s shoulder, and turned him marginally towards the direction everyone had been looking. Once he saw what they’d all been looking at he understood why they hadn’t been able to move.

The first thing he noticed was the people. More specifically, he noticed a certain green haired baby. Then he noticed the man who was currently making baby-faces and playing with said baby. Last he noticed the bored looking teen watching the other two while munching on a meat bun. He eventually got around to taking note of the blanket they were all seated on, along with the various chinese foods and bottles that occupied the same space. When it had all registered, he thought ‘They’re having a–a picknick?’

“Seems so.” Kanzaki glanced up at Natsume. Did he have the ability to read minds as well?

Natsume giggled at the look, reaffirming Kanzaki’s theory, till it got shot down by Shiroyama.

“Strange as it is, but that’s what they seem to be doing, yeah.”

Ah, so his brain to mouth filter had been off again, as usual. They all turned back to watching the trio on the grass.

“Why would these particular people have a picnic together though?”

“Probably just coincidence that they were in the park at the same time, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s got to be it.”

“They don’t look like the picnicking type anyway."

"But have you ever seen those two in the same room and not fighting?"

Silence.

"When did they become friends anyway?"

"Are they even friends?"

"D-don´t look at me! I don´t know a-anything!"

As they kept watching, it turned out that Toujou was, surprisingly, quite adept at handling the kid; seeming to know exactly what to do when the kid started getting a little wobbly-eyed and Oga took on a frantic edge.

They couldn’t hear much of the conversation, but occasionally bits and pieces got carried to them with the slight breeze. It was all nonsense anyway, the seemingly random words and pieces of sentences didn’t make much sense, except maybe “part-time job”, “made too much”, and “avoiding that demon of a lady” when put together hinted towards how the two ogres had ended up here. Though things like “new package from hell”, “Alandelion broke the fridge when he appeared”, and “Jinno’s banned me from touching the toaster” sounded so absurd that the they all wondered if they´d heard right.

The discussion of what exactly Toujou and Oga were doing continued as they watched, and got sidetracked a couple of times by various things; a couple of times from things that they heard the two teens saying, other times it was the foods that got brought out of the large box that apparently Toujou had come with that got four of the boys whining, and lastly among the things that got them muttering in confusin, curiosity, and a bit of fear were the antics of the three. The closest tree sadly suffered gravely in a rock paper scissors game when the three had started arguing and decided to let the victor get their way. The kid, amazingly, won all three rounds.

“I rather think it looks like a da–” Everyone turned to the rabbit-faced teen; Kanzaki couldn’t remember the boy’s name, was he a freshman? The boy faltered under the scrutiny, but eventually managed to stutter out the last word before trailing off and cowering as if bracing for blows.

Everyone stared blankly at him for a moment. “A date.” They repeated, and slowly turned back to the little picnic scene between the bushes.

"More like a family picnic than a date." Natsume said cheerfully.

Shiroyama choughed and mumbled "Does that make Oga the mother in this equation?"

A glass bottle came flying and hit Shiroyama square in the face. Natsume had ducked and Kanzaki having noticed this did the same a split second later, both of them avoiding the headache Shiroyama undoubtedly sported now.

Kanzaki felt his skin prickling. The knowledge of why came with a dark rasping voice hissing "Have ya had enough fun gossipping like monkeys in the bushes, friends?"

He was completely sure that he did NOT want to turn around, but oh how his pride cringed at the reaction. No way was he going to show weakness in front of Oga of all people. He forced his most intimidating expression and turned...and deflated into a shaking mess, joining his the already quivering underlings, with the exception of Natsume. Natsume was standing a good distance away, smiling an amused smile as usual, the bastard.

Oga’s stare was deadly, his aura even deadlier. He took a threatening step forward. and another.

Maybe it was a good idea to bail just about now, was the last thought that Kanzaki had time to have before Oga went wide eyed, cursed, looked behind him as the baby started screaming, and everything went white.

Later, Kanzaki would find himself in a hospital bed, together with Shiroyama, and the three other freshmen. Natsume calmly peeling an apple by his bedside, informing him that he had an electrical line had fallen on them, and that it was a miracle they were all alive at all. Not quite understanding it, but having no reason to doubt Natsume he simply nodded and demanded that Natsume go get a pallet of Yogurti for him to make up for the measly amount he got last time.  
 **Omake**

Toujou sat there staring at Be’el for a moment. Then he tried to speak, and found his mouth too dry to make a sound. He cleared his throat, which turned into full bellied laughter when he regained his ability to move.

“I didn’t know he could do that! What else can the kid do?”

Oga was picking himself up from the ground jerkily, grumbling while walking over to pick up the sniffling kid. “Don’t sound so happy about it.”

“You guys never fail to surprise.” Toujou didn’t entirely know what the warm feeling in his chest was, but it wasn’t unpleasant so he decided he wouldn’t do anything about it.

“Whatever.”

The two straightened their clothing a bit, shaking out dirt and dust from their hair, and glanced at each other, faces completely neutral.

Oga cleared his voice. “Here. Tomorrow. Same time?”

Toujou nodded, a slow grin spreading on his face. “Same time.”

Oga gave a curt nod, almost mirroring the grin when he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: *sigh*...well...seems I fail at being a frequent writer...but anyhows, here you go. I dunno if I really got into Kanzaki's head here, but this'll have to do. I really need someone to discuss this story with....  
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed. If so, please do leave a comment, they make my day ;w;


	5. The Confrontation?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toujou is having...feelings? What is this  
> Oh, and Oga tries. He really does. Such Tsun, much Dere.

Toujou Hidetora knew he had an addiction. It wasn't hard for him to admit. He had an addiction, and that was that. Indulging it made him happy, and he didn't feel the need to stop anytime soon. He doubted he would be able to stop even if it became a problem. Or rather, it already was. Jinno had made certain to make that clear to him.

One morning the bespectacled teen had grabbed him by the arm and ordered him to stay by the breakfast table after they'd finished eating, wearing one of the tightest expressions Toujou had ever seen on his face.

"Tora, I need you to listen to what I have to say, and do not interrupt me."

Ok?

"I get that you like sparring with Oga, I get that it's exhilarating for you to have someone who can match you stroke for stroke in a fight. Very few people can, and the fact that Oga is the second person ever to catch your interest like this is proof of that."

No shit.

"Even so I can't allow your current obsession with the kid to cripple your self-control."

Ah. Yeah. That.

"That's what's happening here. You're not in control of yourself when you start thinking about him, and I don't care if you're in love--"

Whoawhoawhoa! Slow down! What!?

"--or in lust or just too addicted to the rush that comes with throwing your self-restraint to the wind and fighting to your heart's content."

Oh, right. Ok.

"I NEED you to reign in your strength when it's not needed. Especially when you're in this apartment. Understood?"

Ah. Uh. Well. He had to admit the amount of things he'd accidentally crushed to pieces lately had skyrocketed. Not to mention the number of part time jobs he'd lost. Maybe it was time to work on that self-restraint again. He'd never really succeeded in the first place - his temper still flared as easily as ever, but it had gone from unpredictable during his early teens to somewhat stable the last few years. He should be able to rein in his strength. Key word: should.

Toujou had nodded and promised to be more careful. Meanwhile, Jinno had begun steadily cutting Toujou off from all shared household appliances until further notice, which meant Jinno was the one making the meals every day. Neither of them liked it much--they knew which one of them was the better cook--but until Toujou could handle a pan without breaking the oven in the process when his attention slipped, Jinno wouldn't allow him to touch anything expensive in their shared flat.

It was frustrating, though not as frustrating as resisting temptation when a certain brunet showed up at every turn. Seriously, was the kid stalking him?

“Another one of your part time jobs? Is there anything you don't do?”

Speaking of the devil...

Oga's eyes sized him up, brows furrowed and mouth twisted in a way Toujou wasn't entirely sure how to interpret. Be'el squealed from Oga's back in greeting. At least one of them was visibly happy to see him. Toujou made a vaguely affirmative noise in reply and glowered back from under his wide brimmed straw hat in the rice paddy, muddy waters up to his shins.

Oga had to be stalking him. There was no other possible explanation for why he would be in this remote village at the foot of this particular mountain in the middle of practically nowhere otherwise. Really, Toujou actually had no idea where exactly this village was. He'd come here via random travelling and jumping on the earliest train to who knows where without looking at the ticket; he always did this when he went out to train. That Oga would show up in the same place was, simply put, pretty absurd. Not to mention how often the two seemed to be bumping into each other. There was only so much even Toujou was willing to brush off as coincidences.

It wasn't that Toujou disliked the fact that they stumbled across each other everywhere. He rather enjoyed it actually. Problem was...the memories of ragged breathing, muscles flexing underneath warm skin, the faint musky scent of sweat and something indescribable. Flushed cheeks, smoldering dark eyes, breathy groans and the thrill of having to fight hard to stay on top. He could feel his skin prickle and heat bubble up from within just thinking about it. Aaaaah, it would be great to just grab Oga's arm and--

"I'm no expert, but I don't think you're supposed to make pulp of the plants, Toujou."

Toujou blinked, confused, and glanced down at his hands.

...

Damnit. He was doing it again.

Shaking his head, he took a breath, counted to ten, and carefully unclenched his hands, letting the now crushed rice seedlings fall into the water. This selfcontrol business was proving to be harder than he initially thought. Jinno was never going to let him near the kitchen--no scratch that, he'd be banned from the apartment if this continued.

Toujou heaved a short sigh and waded over to Oga by the road, loosening the strap of the straw hat with one hand while wiping sweat from his forehead with the other. He might as well give up on the job as he probably would do more damage than work while the baby toting brunet stuck around.

“Hey! You! Where ye goin’? The work ain’t done yet. Not by far!” One of the other workers in the same paddy had noticed Toujou heading away. Toujou just gave the guy a flat stare and a shrug, and glanced at Oga.

Their gaze met for a short moment. Toujou tilted his head in the direction of the village questioningly. Oga just shrugged in reply, and they strolled side by side down the packed dirt road at the edge of the paddies, ignoring the angry shouts following them down the path.

Be’el flashed the guy in the paddy an ugly grimace, and started babbling nonsense to his two unofficial parents as they walked, making references to things only the little baby knew how to interpret.

When Be’el’s flood of baby-words eventually dabbled off and he contented himself with playing with brown strands of hair, was when Toujou started squirming. The silence following a long stream of happy chatter was disconcerting. This far out in the rice paddies, the only other sounds were the distant–uh, wind? and as there was nothing immediate to occupy his mind, it immediately started running a thousand miles a minute.

So seeing as he couldn't come up with any other way of making it stop and focus on something else (that didn't involve ripping up some pavement. Maybe trashing a rice paddy. Possibly even some clothes. And probably some bite marks too--No. No. Keep collateral damage to a minimum. The apartment. I still need access to the apartment!) he figured, why not try to hit up a conversation.

"What're you doing here anyway, huh?"

"Training with a friend's Gramps."

"Training?"

"Yeah. The geezer's a pretty tough nut."

"Worth fighting?"

Oga barked a laugh. "Almost as infuriating as Saotome-sensei."

"Ho...really now."

"Mhm."

A short pause.

"Be’el received another package."

"Avoiding it as much as possible?"

Oga glowered and made a vaguely affirmative noise. "We found out what the other package that came last week was." Toujou raised an eyebrow. "Furuichi opened it."

"And?" This was going to be good. Oga had told him of a couple of the other times Be'el-bou had received packages from Hell. The one time when Oga and Furuichi had been stuck in nurse outfits and forced to play doctor had been the most amusing one of them all so far. He kind of wished he'd been there to see it.

All the stories sounded so strange and surreal, but Toujou didn't doubt that those things had indeed happened. He honestly had no reason to. After all, Saotome-sensei could do the most insane things, and Oga with the same tattoo on his arm(that occasionally changed in size and shape, Toujou noticed) had proved to be able to do quite some insane things himself. It was one of the many reasons that made Oga so incredibly interesting.

"The thing that came out ate the wardrobe."

"It didn’t show you the way to Narnia, did it?"

"Ha. Ha. No. It just ate all the clothes Furuichi was wearing," Oga snorted. “and then the fluffball devoured my whole wardrobe.”

"So you bailed before it got to the clothes you were wearing as well? Or..." His lips wouldn't stop twitching upwards as he did a quick onceover of the other teen. Again. He was wearing the dark blue school gym shorts (that Toujou knew all the students at St. Ishiyama got, but had never seen anyone of their class actually bother wearing because they gave you wedgies) and a t-shirt that looked at least a size or so too small. Somehow it didn't look ridiculous on Oga, but then, Oga could show up in a sequin covered pencil skirt, tennis socks, and neon pink heels and Toujou would still think he looked good, if strange. Not that he actually knew what kind of skirt a pencil skirt actually was, but that’s another matter entirely.

Oga scowled. "Be'el-bou might prefer running around naked, but I'd rather not. Landing in prison for involuntary streaking isn't exactly something that sounds like fun to me."

Toujou laughed "Scared of showing some skin?" His stomach knotted up and he stiffened in response. Huh. This was new. He retraced his thought process.

Oga naked wasn't a bad thought, quite the opposite really(though distracting and attention consuming), but /other people/ seeing Oga naked...Toujou almost sneered. No, that wasn't acceptable. Not acceptable at all.

...when did that happen?

"No. I just don't see the point," the brunet shot back. The look Oga sent him added to the bizarre, unfamiliar feeling coursing through Toujou. Reading Oga was somehow growing harder and harder, and this development did not sit well with him.

Toujou just nodded and looked away, only to meet Be'el-bou's gaze. The little baby immediately made grabby-hands in his direction. Toujou, being the sucker for cute things that he is, plucked the kid off of Oga's back for a cuddle.

Be'el squealed happily and climbed deftly onto his shoulders, grabbing a few strands of strawberry blond hair in one tiny fist, and pointing towards the horizon with the other.

"Daa a daa! Dabudaa!"

"Off to an adventure, huh? We can do that after I get changed out of this and into my own clothes, yeah?"

"Buuu."

Chuckle. "Patience kid. Just a few more minutes, then we can have a race up the mountain with your daddy."

Oga huffed irritably.

"Dabu! Dabudabu!" The baby clapped his hands, obviously ecstatic.

At this point they'd arrived at the shack (which was more of a glorified equipment shed than anything, really) that the rice paddy owner had put to use as his employees' changing room. Toujou opened the rickety wooden door, grabbed his bag that resided in one of the corners and swiftly started changing out of the muddy clothes he currently wore, but not before remembering to settle Be'el back onto his parent's shoulders. Chucking the dirty work clothes into the blue basket under the tiny window, he swung the drawstring bag over his shoulder and left the shack behind.

"So, ready to run, Kiddo?" Be'el squealed and promptly jumped off Oga's shoulders onto Toujou's. Chuckling, he glanced at the brunet.

"Oga?"

"What took you so long, old man? Is your old age catching up to you? Sure your muscles can handle the speed?" Oga sneered, though he couldn't entirely seem to stop the corners of his lips from twitching upwards. Toujou barked a laugh.

"Oh, so that's how you want it? Sure, bring it on, twerp!"

At the count of three, off they went, dust clouds marking their trail up the mountain. Running had never been this fun before.

* * *

 

The sun was low on the horizon when they finally decided to end the racing for the day in a peaceful scuffle that was more of an all out wrestling match (nah, they were violently making out. Why? Because what else would they end up doing at this point?) that neither would admit defeat to, and if hands wandered a bit, neither of them commented (See. Told you so). It ended in a forced draw due to Be'el throwing a tantrum because he was hungry. The ruckus led to Oga's friend's grandpa arriving to knock them both over the head and tell them to cool off in the river, followed by him literally throwing them into the nearby river because they couldn’t seem to stop taunting each other. He then ordered them both to get their lousy asses back to the shrine for dinner before it went cold.

Dinner went surprisingly smoothly; kudos to Gramps for managing to keep them in check for the whole duration. Toujou was invited to stay the night once it turned out he'd forgotten to fix a place to crash and been planning to camp out on the mountainside under the stars. Gramps shut down that idea with a few choice words and a stern tone that allowed no bullshit.

When they finished eating, the two teens and the baby got hustled into one of the guest rooms to get settled for the night.

Toujou stared at the futon that had been laid out. One futon. Just one. He stared, and stared some more, and really wasn't sure how to react, nor how to feel. What was he feeling anyway? His stomach felt light and his head a bit woozy. What did that mean? He had no friggin clue. Were they expecting them to share? Sure it was easily big enough, but really?

He glanced at Oga and was met with another stare he couldn't read. Was he angry? Annoyed? Pleased? Torn? Was he just as confused as Toujou was?

Damnit. The hell was wrong lately? Where'd the easy, wordless communication go? Toujou almost screamed in frustration. Instead he went with the  quieter option, forcing a, "What," through carefully unclenched teeth.

"Nothing."

Enough was enough. This was starting to really piss him off. Toujou was going to get to the bottom of this one way or the other.

"That is bull, and you know it. If you got something you wanna say, just spit it out."

"Tch."

"Buuuu! Daada! Dabuda aa!"

"I don't need to be told that by you!" Oga growled, pointing a quivering finger at Be’el.

"Buh. Buhuhuhuhuhuhu."

"What's that supposed to mean, huh!?"

“Bua, dabudaa, BU!”

"I gotta say I agree with Be’el-bou.”

"Oh, so now you're both ganging up on me, two against one's unfair! Totally unfair!"

"We're hardly two. Be'el only counts as half."

"Daaabu. Bubuda--DAAAA!?" Be'el turned on Toujou and yanked his hair in fury. "Bibu baaaa! Bu bu bu!"

"Ouch! Sorry, jeesh, fine, you count as one! You count as one!"

Oga cackled. "Serves you right!"

Be'el made a face at him and growled with the pure kind of contempt only babies can express. "Buh, buhibu." Oga's laughter immediately cut off.

Toujou chortled and patted the kid's fluffy head. "Well said. Now, Oga, spill."

The glare he received in return was evil enough that any normal person would double check their drinks for poison for the rest of their lives.

"No."

"Oga."

"Shut up."

"Spill."

"Make me."

"Hoo..." A vein popped somewhere. The beast he'd been reigning in since they got thrown in the river earlier, reared its head again and he grabbed the front of Oga's t-shirt, mindless of the fabric tearing under his fingers. Faces only inches apart he sneered. "It's on, kid."

Two hands appeared out of nowhere and smacked their heads together hard enough for both of them to see stars for a moment. Damn that hurt.

…

Huh...that actually hurt.

Surprised, Toujou looked up from his sprawled position on the tatami mats and found Gramps looming over them, growing more and more menacing by the second. “You noisy little buggers! How many times do I need to tell the two of you to cool your tiny heads! Do you have any idea what the time is? People are trying to sleep, so keep it down. Got it?”

The two teens nodded jerkily, a bit wide-eyed. Gramps huffed, arms crossed.

"Younglings nowadays. Know the value of proper rest. Now, if I so much as hear a SOUND from this room from this point on, you can all go sleep in the river, and i'll have you both doing double Aoi's usual morning training without breakfast tomorrow." And with at, the mustached man turned on his heel, shoved the thin bamboo doors together with a loud "kacha", and left the three boys in the room to their own devices.

 

There were a few minutes where none of the occupants in the room moved, much less breathed, till Oga finally broke the silence and murmured a faint, “Let’s go to sleep.”

They shifted around a bit while Be’el crawled around on Oga trying to find the optimal cuddling spot. Toujou wasn’t exempted from this, and so at one point had the baby crawling all over him as well, till Be’el decided that sleeping in the middle was the best place. However, that wasn’t before he’d pushed and pulled the older two closer together (much to the teens’ somewhat confused mortification).

When they finally settled and the silence again fell, Oga was again the one to break it.

“You can call me Tatsumi, y’know.”

Toujou turned his head towards him in surprise. “What?”

“I’m not repeating myself.” The brunet was lying on his side facing away so the only part of his face visible from Toujou’s vantage point was his left ear and cheek, but that was enough.

Was Oga blushing? It was hard to tell in the dim light. And the hell was wrong with his heart? It did NOT just go “Dokyun!” It didn’t. Got that? It DID NOT. Well, maybe it did. Now stop it. Argh, why were cute things such a weakness for him!? Curse Oga for managing to be both cute, and fun to be around! Wait, he wants me to call him Tatsumi!?

It took a moment before Toujou managed to compose himself enough to let out a shaky laugh and say, “Then, Tora. You call me Tora, k?”

“Fine. Now shut up and sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah. Night.”

**  
** “Night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost a year. I'm sorry. I'm horrible. I don't deserve your love. Thanks for all the Kudos' and comments, and just, all the support. I love you guys.


	6. The Confusion Part 4: Kunieda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kunieda takes a much needed break to visit her dear Grandfather. Or, she tries.

Kunieda Aoi absolutely loved training with her grandfather at the mountain shrine her family owned. The sense of serenity that came with the focus and grueling hard work the training regime the ageing man set up for her entailed was a welcome stress relief; it made all her worries, anger, and insecurities fade away until all that was left were sore muscles and a steadily calming heartbeat. It grounded her, gave her the mental stability to get her mind sorted out and ready to face her currently rather stressful daily life.

Ever since the beginning of her second year in high school things had been progressively more confusing and difficult. The learning material wasn't that hard(despite horrible teachers and as long as she actually got to sit down and read without distraction that is), but everything else felt like it had been shot to hell and back, all thanks to a certain baby toting brawler. He had brazenly plowed his way into her life and thrown anything he got his hands on into a food processor and turned it on on the highest setting.

Recently though, she had come to realise that Oga didn't seem to be doing any of it on purpose. The horribly inopportune wording of, well, pretty much everything that came out of his mouth that was directed to her, or the ridiculous situations she kept getting pulled into because of the guy, seemed to be causing him more trouble than he was prepared to deal with. Most of the time it almost looked like he was the most surprised and pissed off one of everyone when things literally went out of proportion.

Aoi sighed and hefted Kota a bit further up on her hip as she hit the last stretch of stone steps leading up to the family shrine. Her eyes wandered idly over the greenery framing the stairs as she made an effort to clear her mind of distractions. She was here to rest and avoid stress, and thinking of Oga or the current situation at school was entirely counter productive.

She brightened as she finally got to the top, the short row of familiar red shrine gates looming in front of her. This was the place she’d spent large parts of her childhood. where she’d spent the most time with her family, and where she went to hide when things were rough. The place closest to her heart.

“We’re here Kota~” The boy squealed in reply. As she rounded the corner of the main shrine building, an old man emerged out of one of the housing quarters situated behind the shrine.

“Ah! Aoi-chan! Welcome back.” Kunieda Ittosai rumbled, a smile turning up the corners of his white mustache.

“Grandpa!” She grinned as she ran up to the graying man. “It’s been ages. How have you been?”

The old man took a moment. His head tilted a bit jerkily. “I’ve been…” He hesitated, a strange expression flitting across his face. “...busy.”

Aoi blinked, brows furrowing a bit. “Oh. Uhm. With what?”

“Let’s take the small talk later, and get you settled in first, huh? I’m sure you’re tired from the trip”

She wasn’t tired, really, but she would appreciate being freed from her large backpack. Kota would probably like to be let down, and left to roam by himself too. Especially after so many hours of being stuck by Aoi’s side. “Yeah, sure. Um. I’ll go to my usual room and drop off my stuff. Kota is probably a bit hungry though.”

“I’ll get some milk warmed up for him.” Aoi murmured a thanks and ambled down to the room she always stayed at while at the shrine. When she parted the familiar shoji doors though, she froze and stared. Hard.

Not only was the room occupied. It was a royal mess.

There were clothes and pillows and toys and other random items scattered across the floor. Leaves, and flowers, and twigs mingled in between everything else covering every crevice of the room. To top it all off, a pair of boxers hung from the ceiling lamp, shadowing Aoi’s face from the sun shining through the open window.

Now, all this was – while not exactly fine – passable. Normally she’d just be slightly surprised and move to the room next door. It was, however, the three figures sprawled haphazardly on top of each other on top of _her_ futon that kept her rooted to the spot.

There were a lot of things that went through Aoi’s mind in the initial few seconds after she opened the door; mainly _“Why are they here?” “What the fuck” “Why does these things keep happening!” “Just when I actually went out of my way to get a break!” “Fuck, Oga looks good like that…” “No, wait. Stop that thought."_ and of course, _“Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit”_  Her mind kept spinning the same things over and over again in an endless loop, and she started feeling a bit light headed.

A loud snore emerged from the puppy-pile on the floor snapping Aoi out of her stupor. She couldn’t quite stop staring though. Who could blame her. Toujou was lying at the bottom, one arm slung over the back of Oga’s knees, while the other was curled into Oga’s dark brown hair. Oga had his hips and legs sprawled over Toujou’s middle, cuddling the pillow he was happily drooling into. And Be’el? He was lying on Oga’s back, making adorable little sleepy noises.

Kota squealed at seeing Be’el though, when he finally got bored of staring at the back yard and tugged his way around to see what Aoi was looking at, which lead to the green haired baby jumping awake and squealing back happily in reply. He crawled off Oga’s back and headed towards the newcomers to greet them.

The noise made Oga shift, a line of irritable groans muffled by the pillow still pressed to his face. Whereupon Toujou jerked awake, immediately rolling himself and the brunet over, ending in a defensive crouch over Oga’s sputtering form.

Aoi gasped and stumbled back a few steps in surprise, Kota giggling in response.

“Mrrf! Buh! Ah! Hey! What the hell ‘re you doing, stupid strawberry – Kunie-chan?” Oga croaked when he finally got the pillow out of his face, looking at Aoi upside down from his position on the floor, absently pushing at Toujou’s broad shoulders.

“I-I, uh, th-that is, um, e-eh...y-yes?”

Toujou got to his feet and Aoi felt his eyes bore into the side of her face. The pressure of his stare was making her sweat. She had no idea what warranted the sudden scrutiny though. Sure she hadn’t met Toujou while in her current getup – the glasses, hat, pig tails, and casual clothes – so he might be having a slight moment of vague familiarity, but she was sensing a thread of...hostility?

“So you came to visit your Gramps for summer vacation, huh. I was expecting you to arrive a lot earlier though. We’ve been here a week already. Right Tora?”

“Huh? Aah, yea. Your Gramps is real strong despite looking so frail. It’s been quite fun.”

_Oh. So that was what Grandpa was talking about when he said “busy”..._

Pressure heavier than what Toujou had exerted a few moments earlier appeared at Aoi’s back, extending into the room, making everyone tense. “Despite all the _fun_  you boys have been having, I’m going to revoke your dinners for the rest of the week unless you clean up this mess _right now_.” Grandpa glided into the doorway beside Aoi and glared menacingly at the boys. “Chop. Chop.”

“Y-yessir! Sir!” the two boys chorused and scrambled to do as ordered. They’d learnt not to cross the old man more than absolutely necessary.

Grandpa huffed and turned on his heel. “Aoi-chan, your room this time will be the one over there.” He pointed to one a few rooms down the hallway. “I’m sorry I forgot to mention your usual room being occupied. It was the only cleaned room when the little rascals arrived.”

“I-I see…”

* * *

 

So it turned out Oga and Be’el had showed up about a week ago, asking – well, not really asking, more like demanding –  to get some training with her Grandpa. Ittosai had agreed out of boredom. Nothing exciting happened around these parts normally, and judging from previous experiences, the brunet – while not a great student – was prime entertainment.

Toujou appeared about a day later. Oga had apparently found him while on a jogging round around town, and they’d somehow ended up brawling by the river close by the shrine, making enough noise for Ittosai to decide to go check up on it. The pair was a true handful, but the old man seemed to have grown fond of them, judging by the amused twinkle in his eyes as he recounted the main events of the last week.

Aoi couldn’t help but smile a bit chagrined. She really had hoped to get a nice, calming vacation; a break from her daily life. No such luck. Her daily life followed her here instead.

Only, this was somehow worse than usual. She couldn’t even seem to communicate propperly with Oga without Toujou giving her the slightly hostile side-eye, and otherwise being unusually quiet around her. She and Toujou had never been enemies. Hell, he was the only other of the TKHK who actually respected her and treated her as an equal, at least at school. This attitude she’d been receiving from him was frankly rather hurtful.

What was she doing wrong? It was like nothing would quite go her way anymore. Her frustration eventually hit a boiling point, and she grabbed Toujou’s arm as he passed her in the hallway one evening, dragging him out into the backyard before turning on him, eyes blazing.

“What is your problem with me, Toujou? What the hell did I do to make you so pissed at me? Staring me down like I’m your enemy or something. Did I accidentally kick your puppy? Take your manju when it was the last on the plate? Not that I really did any of that, but you get my drift, right? Tell me, you overgrown beefcake! I honestly can’t handle more of your brooding. It stresses me out.”

<i>Oh shit. Maybe calling him an overgrown beefcake was too much. Well done, Aoi, well done.</i>

Toujou was quiet for a long moment. Didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t quite look like he was breathing at all, and Aoi’s unease grew with each passing second. When his face started taking on a bluish shade, she hesitantly took a step forward in worry. “Toujou? Hey? You ok?”

His eyes snapped to hers, almost as if from a trance.

“I’m…” He drew a shaky breath, watching her with a strange expression adorning his face. “You…” A frustrated grunt rumbled from his throat as he tried one more time. “I’m not sure.” Then he turned quiet again.

Aoi was dumbfounded. Toujou never wavered; not in his ways, his convictions, not anything. He was always certain, and always knew what he should do. He wasn’t always right, and he knew that, but that never stopped him. This….this was all wrong.

“You, um...you like Ta–uh…Oga, don’t you?”

“Wh–” Aoi had to take a moment to compose herself. Sure, the other Red Tail girls knew of her crush on Oga, but she was sure she wasn’t so obvious that even the emotionally stunted Toujou picked up on it too! “I-I do n-not! Wh-what makes you say th-that? Why do you care anyway?”

“Just...a feeling. You watch him like I–” He closed his mouth so fast Aoi could hear his teeth clicking. He was quiet for another moment, and then his shoulders slumped a bit. “I don’t have anything against you. There’s no <i>problem</i> with you, and I’m not angry at you. You’re cool. Surprisingly strong, just like your Gramps. It’s just...I’m….I have a lot to think about, so, uh, I’m sorry for making you feel…” he gestured with his hand. “That. What you said earlier. It wasn’t my intention.”

“I-I see.” This whole situation felt unreal. Aoi couldn’t make sense of it.

Toujou shuffled his feet and scratched the back of his neck, looking to the side. “Was there anything else, Kunie....san.”

“No, no. That was all.” She laughed nervously. It was strange being addressed with “san” by <i>the</i> Toujou Hidetora.

He turned away, heading back into the living quarters. “We’re a bit alike I feel.”

“W-we are?”

Toujou made an affirmative noise, glancing at her over his shoulder. “Yeah. Oga drives us both crazy.” Then he disappeared through the doors, leaving Aoi staring blankly at nothing.

What.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! I hope you guys liked the chapter...it's...been a while(ages and ages and ages and I suck at finding time to write) since I last even looked at this fic, oh dear lordilord. Kunieda was funnily easy to write. I want to believe I did her justice...She's my favourite female character in Beelzebub after all <3
> 
> Anywho. I haven't gone through this chapter looking for mistakes and such as many times as I have done with previous chapters, so if you find any mistakes or discrepancies or whatever, tell me plz? :3
> 
> Till next time: Ta-taa~
> 
> PS: I realised while writing this chapter that I'd mistakenly called "Kota" for "Shota" a couple of chapters earlier...and unfortunately I'm a bit too lazy to fix atm... but yeah. My bad. I should stop writing without double and tripple checking source material ^^'

**Author's Note:**

> Moved over from ff.net ;3


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